Punjab imposes statewide night curfew, closure of schools & colleges
Darpan News Desk IANS, 04 Jan, 2022 01:19 PM
Chandigarh, Jan 4 (IANS) With the spike in Covid-19 cases, Punjab on Tuesday imposed statewide night curfew daily from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. and ordered closure of all educational institutions till January 15.
The educational institutions include the schools, colleges, universities and the coaching institutions. However, these institutions are expected to maintain the academic schedule through online teaching.
However, medical and nursing colleges may continue to function normally.
Only fully vaccinated staff will be allowed to attend the government as well as private offices, working spaces, factories and industries. No service will be provided in government or private offices to persons not wearing proper masks, said a notification by Principal Secretary (Home) Anurag Verma.
All bars, cinemas halls, multiplexes, malls, restaurants, spas, museums, zoos, etc., will be allowed to operate with 50 per cent capacity subject to all staff present being fully vaccinated.
The air-conditioned buses will run with 50 per cent capacity, it added.
A nine-member committee of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), the consortium of protesting farmers' bodies, will be meeting on Saturday, and it is likely to put forth four main demands. The meeting will also decide whether the SKM will go ahead with the originally announced 'March Towards Delhi' programme on November 26.
Congress legislator and Punjab unit party president Navjot Singh Sidhu on Friday said the minimum support price (MSP) is the bigger issue than farm laws as it is the lifeline of farmers.
Extending his greetings to the people on Prakash Purb of Guru Nanak Dev, the Chief Minister said it was really a matter of great honour to inaugurate this prestigious project which happens to coincide with Gurpurab.
Three employees of Air India, accused of having a role in the smuggling of gold, have been arrested, officials said on Friday. They have been accused of having a hand in a recent incident wherein 1.5 kg gold -- stored beneath an aircraft's seat -- was seized.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's announcement on Friday to repeal the three farm laws has brought cheers to the agitating farmers' organisations.However, Anil Ghanwat, a farm leader from Maharashtra who was one of the three members of the Supreme Court appointed committee on farm laws earlier this year, has termed the decision as "unfortunate".
Coinciding with the auspicious occasion of Guru Nanak Jayanti, Modi also announced that the constitutional process to repeal the laws would be taken up in the winter session of Parliament that begins on November 29 and appealed to the agitating farmers to withdraw their agitation and go back to their homes.
